Judge allows firm's manual

A judge refuses to seal an internal manual issued by Wyndham Vacation Resorts. The manual could boost fraud claims from people who allege Wyndham sales associates used misrepresentations to dupe customers into buying timeshares.

Published 5:17 pm, Thursday, October 14, 2010

In David-vs.-Goliath fashion, the world's largest timeshare company, which has operations in San Antonio, has lost an attempt to silence one of its former salesmen who obtained information damaging to the firm.

The manual could boost claims from people who upgraded timeshares based on sales pitches that the customers say were fraudulent and misleading.

Among other things, the manual prohibits Wyndham sales representatives from guaranteeing to customers that they could get a certain amount of income by renting out the timeshares, and by telling them they would get a personal coordinator to assist them.

But in documents filed by Faucett, he says the manual is a facade to protect Wyndham should complaints arise. Wyndham management routinely trained sales reps in practices that were contrary to the policy, Faucett's court-filed documents allege.

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In lawsuits filed against Wyndham in Bexar County, customers claim Wyndham sales reps, in an effort to sell timeshare upgrades, used a "take away" sales method in which customers were told they were not enjoying certain benefits, and that they could make up to $1,200 a night renting out their timeshares and would get a "personal representative" to assist them.

No such benefits existed, according to Faucett and the suing customers, and the misrepresentations put them in massive debt. In one case, the debt was nearly $80,000, records show.

Video recordings obtained by the San Antonio Express-News also show sales associates at various U.S. timeshare properties owned by Wyndham - including La Cascada in downtown San Antonio - making pitches similar to those cited in the customer lawsuits.

Wyndham also owns Wyndham Riverside Suites and Worldmark New Braunfels, according to its website.

The Better Business Bureau in Florida, where Wyndham is based, has given Wyndham an "F" rating after getting several complaints, a Wyndham official testified in San Antonio early this year.

Faucett said Wyndham periodically will dismiss a salesperson if complaints arise, as it did with him.

"Wyndham wants to keep its evil deeds in the dark," Faucett said. "Wyndham is saying with the left hand, 'Don't you say this,' but with right hand, says, 'Tell them this so we can get them to get the loan.' Wyndham then turns around and sells the debt on Wall Street and makes more money off of that."

Faucett, who was fired from La Cascada in 2008, achieved an unheard-of victory over Wyndham's highly paid legal team by representing himself because he no longer could afford a lawyer, though the litigation is not over.

He already has posted the manual (and other documents the judge refused to seal) on a website he launched,mywyndhamlawsuit.com.

After leaving Wyndham, Faucett ran a business called Advocates Against Timeshare Fraud, which helped timeshare owners get out of their contracts. Faucett obtained several documents that aided his business by pulling some of them out of a trash bin near La Cascada, according to court hearings and court records. Among the items were documents with customers' identifying information, according to court testimony.

Wyndham sued in November 2009 to keep Faucett from using the documents, and state District Judge Sol Casseb issued an order in January that temporarily tied Faucett's hands. But when Faucett filed for bankruptcy that month, the case moved to Clark's court.

Faucett filed a counterclaim against Wyndham that turned the bankruptcy into an adversarial proceeding and also filed a copy of the manual as an exhibit.

Wyndham requested Clark remove it from the public record by sealing it. Wyndham argued its availability to the public "would be harmful" to Wyndham.

The company claimed the manual could alert competitors to its practices and could give them an unfair advantage. But Clark said Wyndham was unable to explain how, and refused to seal the manual. He also noted Wyndham made no previous effort to protect the information.

"Wyndham's real interest in seeking to have this document filed under seal seems to be to keep it out of the hands of Wyndham's customers," Clark wrote. "Indeed ... Wyndham would prefer this information not fall into the hands of customers, who could then use it against Wyndham."